“Tell, me, when did you start? How did this all start?” Applejack asked. They were in the room normally reserved for practice. Personal punishments had already been handed out by each of the girls’ parents. Apple Bloom got her phone taken and a lot of her gifts taken away until her punishment period was over, and the other girls lost their phones as well. Rarity made Sweetie Belle give her all the pictures as evidence.

“It was when you started havin’ all those sleepovers, just for her and kickin’ us out” Apple Bloom said. “I’m your flesh an’ blood, and she bullied you and us! How can you choose her over me!”

“Is that what this is all about?” Applejack asked, “You were mad at Sunset for taking our attention?”

“We did it because she split you guys up, terrorized everyone including us, and you just decided to let her get away with it!” Apple Bloom said. “It wasn’t fair!”

“Wasn’t fair? Do you think she had it easy? Aside from us, everyone in school was hatin’ her!” Applejack said.

“And we weren’t always tactful about it either.” Rarity said.

“So what?” Sweetie Belle said, voice cracking. “You shouldn't’ have to be nice to her, after what she did!”

“Yeah? What’s so special about Sunset, that everyone has to just forgive her? Is it just because Twilight told you to? Do you have any idea how much misery she caused everyone?”

“Blossom, I can’t believe you right now” Applejack shook her head in disappointment, “You don’t forgive people because you think they deserve it, you forgive them because you’re a bigger person.” In the back of her mind she felt like a filthy hypocrite for saying it. If she truly believed that, she would have tried to at least listen to Sunset.

“So they get away with it just because you gotta prove your ego?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Nothin’ good is accomplished with petty revenge,”

“But this isn’t petty, she bullied everyone!” Sweetie Belle said.

“And in case you haven’t noticed, everyone’s gotten their payback” Applejack said, crossing her arms, “Sunset left, because she was havin’ such a hard time, over what you did.” The girls looked stunned.

“She left?”

“Yep, rumor has it she changed schools. Though considerin’ you’ve been runnin’ the rumor mill here, I’d’a thought you would have known” The girls looked at each other with varying expressions of shock and horror.

“..most of that came from other people” Apple Bloom admitted. “We….didn’t want anyone to connect Anon-A-Miss, to us, but we didn’t want to make up rumors about people we didn’t know-”

“Oh yeah, because making up rumors about people you know is sooo much better-” Rainbow Dash said. The girls flinched realizing just how bad that sounded.

“Well, yeah...I guess.”

“We sort of invited other people to submit stuff, and we posted it” Apple Bloom said.

“Only….after a while we didn’t want to anymore.” Sweetie Belle said, “Because people were getting mean. And I don’t mean regular mean, but super mean. Like rumors about how someone’s mother died of embarrassment from having them, or telling someone to...to k- to hurt themselves.”

“and picking on Derpy for things she can’t help!” Scootaloo added.

“We were mad at Sunset, but we never wanted it to go this far. “Apple Bloom said. “We kept trying to find ways to stop it, but….” Applejack felt her anger fading as she looked down at the girls, who seemed a little shaken by the memories.

“You remember what Granny Smith, told ya? When you say somethin-’

“You can’t take it back” Apple Bloom said quietly, her voice quivering. Applejack nodded. At least Apple Bloom understood it now.

They might have been able to get this all wrapped up, until they had realized someone had come in behind them.

“...did I hear correctly?” A familiar voice said behind them. Applejack turned around and her stomach lurched when she saw it.

Twilight stood there, clutching her bag with pale knuckles and looking more furious than they had ever seen her. “After you drove Sunset out of the school for Anon-a-Miss, it’s was your own sisters who did it?” She asked quietly. “And, they just get an I forgive you?”

“Now w-wait just a minute-” Applejack started.

“DON’T YOU WAIT JUST A MINUTE ME, APPLEJACK!” Twilight’s anger was a terrible thing to behold. Even worse, Applejack noticed her eyes were red and puffy. She had been crying. “I TOLD YOU TO LOOK OUT FOR SUNSET! WHAT DO YOU THINK I MEANT WHEN I ASKED YOU TO TEACH HER?”

The girls backed up huddled together.

“Twilight, we-”

“Did you ask Sunset about it? Before you accused her? Did you give her a chance to explain herself? Or at least see that you were sure of the evidence? “

“Well, we thought-:

“YOU THOUGHT? THAT’S IT?” Twilight stepped closer and Applejack moved backward. “While you were thinking did you consider why she might have done this? Or did that little thought occur after you kicked her to the side?”

“....did she tell you about this already?” Applejack didn’t want to think about what Sunset might have said or thought of them afterward.

“No actually. She hasn’t said a word to me, I haven't heard anything from her since your sleepover.” Twilight’s voice shook, and Applejack could tell that this affected her the most. “I don’t why, but I can be pretty sure that right now, she is convinced all of her friends have left her?”

“Wait….and you didn’t think to even write a ‘hey Sunset, how are you doing? Are you okay?” Rainbow Dash asked, “how is that our faul-”

“Shut up, Rainbow Dash!” They have seen Twilight scold Sunset before, but they had never seen her this angry. And it was at them. “The point is Sunset was so broken by your abandonment that couldn’t even write to me”

“We thought she shared our secrets!” Rainbow Dash said, “We thought she’d betrayed us after we threw a sleepover for her” This time her protest was only half hearted.

“Betrayed, huh? I can’t possibly imagine what that feels like” Several things around Twilight had a purple aura around them and were floating a few inches above the ground. Last time she was here it had taken music, or the crown for any magic to work. “I notice you’re not nearly as upset to find that your sisters did this? Sunset got a “goodbye” based on your halfbaked superstition, but all your own flesh and blood gets is “oh well you learned your lesson, so it’s okay. WHY IS THAT?”

“Twilight, we’re sorry” Fluttershy said

“Yes, we realized we made a big mistake, and we’re trying to find out the truth” Rarity said. Twilight took a deep breath and composed herself.

“I’m sorry too. I’m sorry that I trusted you so much to take care of Sunset.”

“Please don’t be mad at them” A small voice came from behind them “It’s our fault-”

“Oh … I know. Believe me I know” Twilight said, taking a deep breath. “and I was just getting to that.” She stepped forward. “Where I came from, your counterparts did the very same thing to the whole town. But they started because they wanted to see if they had a future in journalism, and were pressured into it by the leader of their school paper. They didn’t do it out of a spiteful desire to punish someone and lay the blame on them. They didn’t do it because they wanted to see someone hurt. You say that seeing people being too mean upset you? Look in the mirror. What you did was every bit as bad as what Sunset did. She broke up friendships, and so did you. You wanted to punish Sunset for what she did? Who’s going to punish you? Because you did the EXACT SAME THING.”

Applejack fully understood why Twilight was angry, but the girls were in tears at this point and they had already realized what they had done way before this.

“Twilight, they get it. Look at them. “ She said. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were shaking,backed against the wall and uttering quiet sobs. The objects around the room fell, freed from her magic.

“We’re sorry!” Sweetie Belle gave a sniff. “You’re right….” Twilight took a deep breath and stepped back.

“According to them, most of the gossip was submitted by students themselves.” Applejack said. “I don’t think this stunt would have gotten half as far if it weren’t for that.”

“....wait a minute” Rainbow Dash said, coming to a realization. “So the students who were all mad at Sunset, were turning in gossip to Anon-a-Miss themselves?”

“.....that’s pretty ironic.” Pinkie Pie said quietly, trying not to show how shaken by Twilight’s anger she really was. Her hair was looking limp.

“It’s not irony” Twilight said coolly, “It’s hypocrisy and I think that once the girls are taken care of , this entire school needs to have a talk about bullying. It’s been a problem since I’ve gotten here. First Sunset bullied and everyone just accepted it as fact, then after the Fall Formal, everyone got along with each other, but made Sunset a scapegoat, during the Battle of the Bands, everyone bullied each other again, over a silly little contest.”

“That was the Dazzlings” Rainbow Dash pointed out.

“I thought so too…. but now I’ve just learned that your student body has been submitting gossip about each other, and then again, scapegoating Sunset for it. The Dazzlings aren’t here anymore. What’s your excuse now?” Nobody had anything to say.

“Oh nice” Sunset looked up when she heard a harsh sarcastic voice nearby. A boy about her age with wavy brown hair was looking down at the flyer. “They already hate me before I even got here. Thanks a lot, Dad.”

“I’m sorry.” Sunset said. He shrugged and crumbled the paper up.

“It’s no big deal. If I were them I wouldn’t trust me either.” he said. “You new here too?”

“I transferred.” Sunset said, “I had some trouble at my old school. I’m Sarah Summers.”

He took her hand and shook it. “Ralph Levine. Sorry if Dad’s given you any trouble.”

“Not really, it’s fine. You came from Royale right?”

“Yeah. I, uh, had trouble at my old school too, and it was convenient to come here. Probably not going to be any better.” He spoke with tired resignation, and Sunset couldn’t help wondering how long he’s been putting up with his father’s behavior and the consequences of it.

“Well,if you ever want to talk, call me.” She offered. “I’ve been there.” Ralph looked a little shocked, and Sunset’s heart broke for him. Had this kid never had a friend because of his father?

The Crusaders made the choice to go to the principal's office, with the older girls nearby. Applejack feared that if people suspected anything they might start turning their ire on the girls. Even Twilight had to admit, as angry as she was , that it seemed liked a smart idea. While they took care of that she opted to go out herself, and maybe cool down.

“...remind me never to make you mad” Spike said, walking alongside her around the grounds of the school.

“I don’t want to get that way ever again.” Twilight said. “As wrong as it was, Applejack is right. They’re little girls, and half of the blame belongs to the school for taking part in it.”

“Not that different from the Ponyville Confidential.” Spike pointed out, “Everyone was fine with the gossip, until it turned on them.”

“But they didn’t write it, the Crusaders did. And from the sounds of it, even the Crusaders weren’t nearly as horrible as some of what the students said.” Twilight sat on a bench, looking down at the book. “I thought this school had changed after the Fall Formal, I thought…….” She traced the patterns on the book absentmindedly. “I thought I had made a difference.:

There it was, the honest truth. And it sounded stupider the more she thought about it. How much of it had been hope, and how much of it had been her own ego wanting to imagine that she could just come in and change things?

“Twilight” Spike hopped in her lap., “Don’t get all down on yourself. “You did a good thing”

“Did I?” She sighed, “or did I just sacrifice Sunset for the illusion of peace?” She thought about her words to Sunset after defeat and in the light of Sunset’s struggle to make amends, Twilight started to realize that her words might have been crueler than she meant for.

“You will never rule in Equestria. Any power you may have had in this world is gone. Tonight, you've shown everyone who you really are. You've shown them what is in your heart.”

The school had never really forgiven Sunset for that,it seems. Twilight buried her face in her hands.

“Twilight, don’t beat yourself up for this” Spike told her, licking her face. “You didn’t tell them to do this.”

“....Twilight?” Twilight looked up when she heard another voice. Flash Sentry was standing in front of her with a rake. “Are you okay?”

“Oh” She wiped her eyes. “Yeah, I’m alright.”

“You heard what happened, huh?” He said. “I know you must be disappointed. You and your friends really thought you’d changed her.” Flash believed Sunset was guilty? Twilight’s stomach clenched. Was he one of the ones who drove her out?

“Actually” She said, trying to sound as cold as possible, “It’s not Sunset I’m disappointed in.”

“Whaaddya mean?” He asked, looking as if he had been punched in the face.

‘Hmm not a bad idea’ Something in the back of her mind mused. She pushed it away. No , she wasn’t going to lose control.

“I mean Sunset is innocent. She didn’t do this”

“You’ve gotta be kidding. Everyone knows it’s her.”

“Oh I think everyone knows a lot more than that.” Twilight looked him in the eyes. “We found the actual culprits. Someone else who was still mad at Sunset and wanted to see her punished. “

“Well? Who are they? Are you protecting them too? Or are you just lying because you don’t want to believe Sunset’s guilty?”

“I’m not saying who they are because this school has a bad habit of taking it upon themselves to punish people with bullying. And you know what else they told me? They told me that after the first few posts, they started taking submissions. From other students. Did you know that, Flash? “

He started at her for a moment. “What?”

“Most of the student body is guilty, Flash. And they blamed and drove out one of the few people who was innocent in all this!”

“....drove….out? What happened to her?”

“Oh now you care about her.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “You can find out when everyone else does. Maybe while you’re waiting it’ll give you some time to think about what the consequences could be for what you’ve done.” She got up,Spike in one arm and slinging the bag over her shoulder and walked off.

“Do you think he submitted any?” Spike asked.

“I don’t know, he seemed honestly surprised. I will tell you this I don’t think I want to date him anymore” She said. Crush, gone.

Before Ralph could say anything else they heard a noise from a crowd of students nearby. They were all crowded around one of the lists, it seemed. One girl seemed the most devastated, letting out a weird strangled cry as she stared at the list. She had her hair up in a bun with and ornamental stick through the top, and Sunset knew enough from Rarity to be able to tell that her clothes were fairly pricy, as well as that purse she had. Pretty expensive for a sixteen year old girl.

Sunset guessed that this must be the ‘Daddy’s girl’ on the list. She had a few friends surrounding her, reassuring her. Nearby another girl about the same age was staring down at the list with an unreadable expression. She had frizzy hair, pulled into a messy ponytail, with an overlarge hoodie and jeans with oil on them and looked like she could probably lift weights. She looked up from the list at the other girl who was having a meltdown and grimaced.

“Aw criminy. Just my luck.”

Meanwhile next to a large mountain of a boy who was holding back laughter, a scrawny and short teen was also staring at the list and looking less than happy about it.

“You’re kidding me right? You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me. They cannot be serious!” He read over a part of the list “The mysterious and incorrigible bad boy of JJ High. Who writes this? Do I look like Edward fucking Cullen to you people? Do I?” He looked around at a group of girls who were staring at him. The larger boy rested an arm on his smaller friend’s head.

“You’re not too far, just gotta cut your hair and lose all the blood in your face. ”

“Shut up, Neeks.”

A younger girl with an oversized anime t-shirt looked at it and laughed, crumbling the list up. “He’s right though. Who can take this shit seriously? S’just a list.”

“It’s the voice of the people, Lasko.” Another girl with her own friend posse was standing back and admiring the crowd. Sunset knew that look, and that smirk. This girl ,reminded her startlingly of herself at one point.

“Yeah well, the voice of the people needs to work on their writing skills.” Lasko shot back. “Maybe pull your nose out of Twilight for a moment or two.” For a moment Sunset thought of her friend, but then she remembered that it was a book title. Some weird vampire thing.

“Feh, If you’re hot, I’m pretty happy to be not.” Anime girl said, bouncing the crumpled paper ball of Ms. Popular. She looked annoyed for a moment or two but then smiled and patted Anime girl on the head.

“Denial is the first step.”

“Eh in my experience popularity is fleeting.” Sunset spoke up. “One moment everyone likes you and not too long after you’re eating lunch alone.” Ms. Popular walked up to her and stared into her eyes like she was sizing up an opponent. Sunset was reminded vividly of herself giving Twilight the same look.

“And what do you know of popularity, Demona? Were you friendly with the theatre nerds who helped you with that little video last fall? Protip, sweetie, that doesn’t count as popular. You have to know the right people.” Oh, if only she knew.

“Had a brush with it, once or twice” Sunset said casually. “Oh and, if we’re talking about what counts as popular, getting your friends to put you on a list and put it around the school doesn’t count either.” What was she doing? Sunset didn’t know why she didn’t just walk away. But this girl , this girl who was just like the old Sunset, she-demon Sunset, made her want to stand up and say something.

“....oooooooooooooooooooooooh” Anime girl called out, “You better get some burn heal for that, Giada!”

One of Giada’s friends rolled her eyes.

“Nobody plays Pokemon past twelve. Grow up, Siri”

“Well you’re all missing out and I’ll be over here in the fun corner!” Siri must be Siriana, the last girl on the list. She walked away backwards, giving Giada a very rude gesture with both hands. Most everyone who had been watching was staring. “Yes, I know exactly what this means.” As she turned around Sunset heard her mutter, “Why does everyone always look surprised when it’s me? Kids here do it all the time.”

Giada turned to stare at Sunset until the bell rung and she turned around and walked off. Sunset swore she heard a few people muttering. But for once, not in suspicion and distrust. She swore she heard someone say to their friend “Is she new? She’s got guts.”

“You know, if it were me, I’d hang on to that nickname.” Lasko said as he passed. “Demona sounds pretty badass.”

By this time they had been yelled at by so many people, they were surprised when the Principals didn’t yell at them. They looked really disappointed though.

“We’re really sorry”

“We wouldn’t blame ya if you wanted to expel us” Apple Bloom added.

“I’m not going to expel you girls. However you will have to face consequences for starting all of this. Because of what you did, you will turn your phones in to the teachers every day and get them at the end of the day, until the end of the year. You won’t be allowed to use the computer without supervision until the end of the year. “

The girls sighed.

“However if you behave for the rest of the year, your punishment will be lifted next year. You seem to understand why what you did was wrong. “

“Anythin’ else?”

“Yes. I request your presence at a school assembly. I think we need to have a talk with everyone in light of recent events.”

“...b-but...if they find out it was us...they’ll be as mad at us as they were at Sunset!”

“The school will never forgive us!”

“Well your actions aren’t the only ones we’ll be talking about.”

“Do you girls have a record of everyone who submitted to you?” Luna asked.

“Oh yeah. “ Apple Bloom said. “...if we have permission to use the computer we can get ahold of it.”

“I will watch over you as you do it.” Luna said. “And after the evidence is gathered, I expect to see the page taken down. “

“You got it. “

“I hope you’ve learned a lesson in all this.” Celestia said.

“Yeah. Being a bully to someone who you think deserved it doesn’t make you any less of a bully”

“That’s right. Bullying isn’t a punishment to wield against your fellow students for stepping out of line. You’re not alone, this is something that it seems our entire student body needs to learn.” She stood up and moved aside to reveal the computer. “Now, Luna will watch over you while you get what you need from the website.” After this was done she would have to get ready for an unpleasant talk with the rest of the students, and she had a feeling they might not understand the lesson as well as the Crusaders seemed to.

Across the city at Royale Prep, another fiery haired girl was trudging through her first day back. Samantha Sarrow was not looking forward to the start of a new year, especially after the last had been such a pain. Not because of any trouble from the students, most of them knew to stay out of her way.

But she felt as if she had no energy for anything after pulling through the holiday season. It had been the first Christmas since her sister Summer had run away to escape her parents’ punishment after her brush with the law. It was slowly sinking in that Summer was gone. Even worse, nobody but Sam and her parents knew what Summer used to be like. As far as most of her classmates knew, Summer was just a girl from a good family that went bad.

Sam probably knew more about Summer than her parents even knew, and it made it harder to face them. She had kept Summer’s secrets when she snuck out. Partly because Summer made it clear what would happen if she didn’t, and partly because Sam hadn’t wanted to betray her big sister, and former best friend.

Well look how that turned out. Summer got found out in her stunts anyway, and left in the middle of the night to meet up again with the crowd who pulled her into it. Because obviously they mattered more than her own family, even after Sam had kept her secrets. She just left. Summer’s new friends had fed her poison, and enabled all the worst parts of her until that was all that was left of her. In the last year they spent with her, all Sam knew of Summer was the constant anger, the putdowns, and the reminders to toughen up.

Well that’s what she did. Though Sam kept herself out of trouble with the law, and got better grades because she actually gave a damn about school. That had been the one thing Sam could do that Summer couldn’t. She got straight As. That was all she could do to spite Summer for leaving them.

Sam brushed past people in the halls, moving like a guided missile to her class. A few people moved out of the way to avoid her. She made it to her next class with time to spare. The seat next to her remained empty until the next bell rang. It wasn’t uncommon for Tolliver to be a little late. Probably caught up in the library reading something for too long.

Sure enough, he came in just as the teacher was starting the lesson. He had something pressed up to his nose.

“Sorry! Sorry! “ he called out sounding like he had a bad cold. “I had to stop by the nurse.” He plopped in the seat next to Sam, holding a bloodstained handkerchief to his face.

“What happened to you” Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

“....got punched.”

“Really? I didn’t take you for a fighting type. More like a chickenshit coward type.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose” Tolliver said indignantly. Interesting how he didn’t object to the chickenshit coward bit. “.....I….I uh...said something to a girl, and I think it offended her.”

Sam groaned.

“What did you say?”

“Well...I was kind of zoning out and she thought I was looking at her legs. I told her she had nice leggings. ….and she punched me.”

Sam slapped her palm to her face.

“They really were nice leggings, though, I dunno why she was so offended!”

“Tolliver, you’re an idiot.” she said plainly. “Stick to books, don’t bother with girls.” The lesson went on, and she ended up doing a lot of the work while he tried to deal with his nose. Things were going well until her name was called over the intercom, and they were only part of the way through.

“Goddammit, not again” She sighed and got up. All last year some of the school staff had been annoying to her about grief counseling. She thought she had made it clear she wasn’t interested. “You. Don’t mess with anything, don’t touch anything.”

“I know this stuff though!” Tolliver insisted.

“Yeah well, just don’t touch it., or you might get another knock at that nose of yours.” She shook her head and slung the bookbag over her shoulder. She wondered how much trouble she’d get in if she told a school staff member to stuff it.

Author's Notes:

Hey hope y'all enjoyed chapter three!

I hope Twilight's verbal thrashing was satisfying. There will be some more to come at the assembly, not only from Twilight but from the principals too! The events of Ponyville Confidential were sorta covered by the Anon-a-Miss thing, and in the story something sorta resembling One Bad Apple will happen too. I felt like the moral about 'bullying back' that the episode sorta got across (I am aware it wasn't entirely perfect and some room for improvement could be made. A lot of people have issues with that ep.) really fit in here as well. So , hey, Babs Seed plot, why not? There will be a lot of people in the student body who are displeased with the Crusaders.

Sam Sarrow is Sunset's human counterpart for those wondering. She's started to become a slightly bigger part of this than I planned, building up for the events of the sequel, where you'll see how Sam's past links to Sunset's. Sam is similar to how Sunset was early on around the time she was terrorizing Canterlot High. For personal reasons, very angry at the world, and pretty disillusioned.